Theatricality vs. Fire Safety

I'm waxing nostalgic about hats and their relationship to dramatic personae still. Veils were marvelously theatrical. On a second date with a podiatrist, as he was lecturing me on the damage I was causing to my feet wearing high heels, I drifted into a daydream set in a smoky Chicago bar in the 1920s. My costume was certainly ideal: gloves, a low-brimmed hat with a chin veil. My cigarette holder, tortoise cigarette case, my mysterious and sultry gaze. I was absorbed in creating a much better scene than the one I was in. The cigarette and I burned lower. Suddenly I looked cross-eyed at my veil. It was sizzling. The daydream ended with me smacking the smoldering veil out just below my nose. The podiatrist and I parted company soon thereafter, him off to lecture the next poor woman whose footwear exceeded his height limitations, and me, off to quit smoking.